Associate Physician
Brigham and Women's Hospital

kelsey@hsph.harvard.edu

Dr. Kelsey is interested in the application of laboratory-based biomarkers in chronic disease epidemiology. The goal of his work is to increase our understanding of individual susceptibility to exposure-related cancers as well as other chronic exposure-related conditions. In addition, his laboratory is interested in studies delineating disease mechanisms (particularly those associated with low-dose exposures) by investigating the association of environmental exposure to carcinogens with somatically acquired changes in tumors.

Active work includes several studies of individual susceptibility to environmental and occupational pollutants. The laboratory is investigating susceptibility to smoking-related lung cancer, using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods to examine constitutional genetic polymorphisms in carcinogen metabolism genes. Additional studies are being conducted to similarly investigate individual susceptibility to pancreatic cancer, and brain tumors. As part of the Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology in the Channing Laboratory, additional work nested within the Nurses Health Study is focused upon genetic susceptibility to chronic diseases including breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, colon cancer and prostate cancer. Finally, the lab is also investigating the determinants of somatic mutations in lung and head and neck cancers.

Kelsey KT, Memisoglu A, Frenkel D, Liber HL. Human lymphocytes exposed to low doses of x-rays are less susceptible to radiation-induced mutagenesis. Mutat Res. 1991 Aug;263(4):197-201. [abstract]

Smith CM, Christiani DC, Kelsey KT, eds. Chemical Risk Assessment and Occupational Health. Westport CT: Auburn House, 1994.

Wang X, Christiani DC, Wiencke JK, Fischbein M, Xu X, Cheng TJ, Mark E, Wain JC, Kelsey KT. Mutations in the p53 gene in lung cancer are associated with cigarette smoking and asbestos exposure. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1995 Jul-Aug;4(5):543-8. [abstract]

Nelson HH, Christiani DC, Wiencke JK, Mark EJ, Wain JC, Kelsey KT. K-ras mutation and occupational asbestos exposure in lung adenocarcinoma: asbestos-related cancer without asbestosis. Cancer Res. 1999 Sep 15;59(18):4570-3. [abstract]